Tom Peters

Peters was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He went to Severn School for High School and attended Cornell University, receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1965, and a master's degree in 1966. He later studied business at Stanford Business School, receiving an M.B.A. and Ph.D.. In 2004, he also received an honorary doctorate from the State University of Management in Moscow.

From 1966 to 1970, he served in the United States Navy, making two deployments to Vietnam as a Navy Seabee, then later working in the Pentagon. From 1973 to 1974, he worked in the White House as a senior drug-abuse advisor, during the Nixon administration. Peters has acknowledged the influence of military strategist Colonel John Boyd on his later writing.

From 1974 to 1981, Peters worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, becoming a partner and Organization Effectiveness practice leader in 1979. In 1981, he left McKinsey to become an independent consultant.

Works
1982 - In Search of Excellence (co-written with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.)
1985 - A Passion for Excellence (co-written with Nancy Austin)
1987 - Thriving on Chaos
1992 - Liberation Management
1993 - The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations
1994 - The Pursuit of WOW!
1997 - The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness
1999 - The Brand You50, The Project50 and The Professional Service Firm50 (Reinventing Work Series)
2003 - Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age
2005 - Talent
2005 - Leadership
2005 - Design
2005 - Trends (co-written with Martha Barletta)
2010 - The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE